Alumnus helps shape veterinary education at Mississippi State University
In the more than 30 years since Dr. Todd Henderson sat for his MSU veterinary school interview, one detail has stayed fresh in his mind: the homemade chocolate chip cookies.
“That’s where I want to go,” he remembers thinking. He had earned acceptance to other vet schools but, “they greeted me with homemade chocolate chip cookies. That attracted me all the way from Maryland to Mississippi State.”
It sounds like a small thing but, for Henderson, that gesture of warmth has never faded in significance. It spoke of something that is baked into Mississippi State’s culture: a family atmosphere, a genuine welcome and a desire to nurture the whole person.
Now, as a leader in the animal-health industry, Henderson and his company, Nutramax, are working to ensure Mississippi State has all the ingredients to maintain its place as a national leader in veterinary education, research and practice.
The Nutramax Laboratories Pharmacy serves as a central hub for the College of Veterinary Medicine, dispensing approximately 300 prescriptions each day while providing training opportunities for pharmacy and veterinary students. Pictured, from left, are Alexandria Bubnash, clinical instructor and junior pharmacist, with Lulu; and Katherine Raines, assistant clinical professor and pharmacist-in-charge.
A Fresh Idea
While Henderson worked to complete his veterinary education at MSU, his father Robert—who holds a Doctor of Pharmacy—was reviewing scientific publications about human pharmaceuticals as part of his work. When Todd read those same studies from a veterinary perspective, the duo found an untapped area of study they were uniquely positioned to explore.
In 1992, the year Todd completed his MSU degree, Robert founded Nutramax Laboratories. Drawing from Robert’s pharmacy background and Todd’s veterinary expertise, the company specializes in translating established human medical innovations for use with animals.
Today, Nutramax is one of the most respected animal health companies in the nation with nearly 900 employees, a portfolio of products trusted by veterinarians and pet owners across the country, and a career-defining mission to provide quality-of-life improving products for people and their pets.
“We make sure our products are of the highest quality and manufactured to the highest standards,” Todd Henderson said. “We took both of our trainings and blended them. The Lord has continued to bless the company. My dad and I developed a culture around honoring the Lord and doing everything with excellence. That’s what the Lord calls us to do.”
Goodness Baked In
With a company culture founded on faith, Nutramax operates more like a mission than a corporation. This philosophy also shapes its approach to partnerships, including a hands-on, personal and remarkably wide-ranging relationship with Mississippi State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
“He has supported numerous initiatives, including research studies, renovation of pharmacy facilities, establishment of a surgical training program and community events,” said Dr. Nicholas Frank, dean of the MSU CVM. “Faculty, staff, interns, residents, students, clients and patients have all benefited from it, and the college is growing because of it.”
Henderson said supporting Mississippi State is a natural fit, because the education he received as a Bulldog helped shape the success of his career and business.
“Mississippi State was integral in helping me have the background to evaluate compounds and bring them to market,” said Henderson, who is president and CEO of Nutramax. “I want to do what I can to support the students and the school that helped me.”
From its state-of-the-art facilities (center) to its family-led leadership team (left/top), Nutramax Laboratories continues to build on the vision established more than three decades ago. Top: Dr. Robert “Bob” Henderson stands between his sons, Dr. Todd Henderson (left) and Dr. Troy Henderson (right). Bottom/Right: Mississippi State President Mark E. Keenum joins Dr. Todd Henderson during the university’s 2018 Alumni Awards ceremony, where Todd Henderson was recognized for his professional achievements and service to his alma mater.
The Ingredients for Success
Among the most significant physical investments Nutramax has made at MSU is the 2019 renovation of the pharmacy within the vet school’s animal health center. The pharmacy dispenses approximately 300 prescriptions daily and provides consultations for faculty, staff, students and veterinary practitioners across the region. It also offers clinical clerkships for pharmacy students and a clinical pharmacy elective for veterinary students—work that is training the next generation at the intersection of the two disciplines that define Nutramax itself.
“The pharmacy is the heartbeat of the clinic,” Henderson said. “Students and faculty go through the pharmacy. It was the perfect place for us to invest in Mississippi State and make sure they have one of the premier pharmacies of all veterinary schools.”
Nutramax has also invested in training students in best-practice surgical techniques through recent support for a new surgery facility. It will support the college’s spay and neuter training initiative, which is part of its broader Shelter Medicine program.
Henderson said he sees the program as going beyond improving animal health and future practitioners’ technical skill. He said it also builds students’ confidence, which is essential for young veterinarians entering the profession.
“As a vet, the practice of medicine is as much an art as it is a science,” Henderson said. “If students graduate and don’t feel confident doing a spay or neuter or a standard surgery, they’re not going to feel confident in other surgeries or other areas of medicine. They lose that confidence.”
He explained graduates of many well-respected, top-level vet schools across the nation go into practice having only done one surgery, or half a surgery. Those graduating from Mississippi State’s vet school, by contrast, will have done 90 surgeries on average, largely thanks to the access created by the Shelter Medicine program.
Nutramax Laboratories’ investments in Mississippi State’s College of Veterinary Medicine help support hands-on learning from the pharmacy to the operating room. The company’s support of the college’s pharmacy and Shelter Medicine surgical training program helps prepare future veterinarians through real-world clinical experience.
To help address that imbalance, Henderson’s gifts bring recently graduated veterinarians from other schools across the country to Mississippi State where they work alongside skilled mentors, complete high volumes of surgeries and leave as better, more confident clinicians.
“When they leave, they go as ambassadors for Mississippi State,” Henderson said. “They go back and say, ‘MSU had one of the best programs I’ve ever seen.’”
Some of the most meaningful ways Nutramax Laboratories supports MSU’s CVM are less visible. For more than two decades, the company has sponsored the annual Christmas luncheon at the college. The company also sponsors an orientation breakfast to welcome incoming students. It sponsors the Pegasus Ball, a formal event for faculty, staff and students to casually interact. There are also monthly lunch-and-learn sessions where Nutramax Laboratories provides speakers and meals.
The company also provides scrubs to veterinary technical staff annually, supports Research Day with lunch, gifts and awards, and invests in the Clinical Research Fund, which channels proceeds from product gifts to the pharmacy into grants awarded through the college’s Office of Research and Graduate Studies, benefiting residents, interns and faculty.
In 2014, Nutramax made its first major gift to the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine through a memorial fund established in honor of Paul Farmer, Henderson’s vet school roommate who died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. The scholarship funds veterinary students’ travel to countries around the world for humanitarian service, allowing them to hone their clinical skills while giving back globally.
Henderson also makes a point of supporting the Christian Veterinary Fellowship group on campus, sponsoring events that range from worship nights and Bible studies to trivia nights and pumpkin carving. The efforts reinforce the well-being of young veterinary professionals.
“Confidence and empathy go together,” he said. “The fellowship group is very important to us.”
He explained it’s an investment not just in future clinicians, but in whole human beings.
“We want to help them in their future and their family lives,” he said. “We want them to be good, solid citizens, and these are different ways we can help them work toward that.”
TOP/LEFT: Dr. Todd Henderson visits with Dak, Mississippi State’s live mascot, during the AKC Diving Dogs Premier Cup on campus. RIGHT: Earlier this spring, MSU Police swore in two Nutramax-sponsored K-9 teams, doubling the university’s K-9 unit and expanding hands-on training opportunities for veterinary students. Pictured, from left, are Officer Makenna Foster with Quinn, a German shorthaired pointer trained in explosive detection; Assistant Chief Brian Locke; and Officer William Bowling with Cosey, a German shepherd trained in narcotics detection.
More Cookies in the Jar
Henderson and Nutramax’s support for Mississippi State doesn’t stop at the College of Veterinary Medicine. He and the company are always looking for ways to support the Maroon and White family and increase the visibility of Mississippi State.
In 2025, Henderson helped Mississippi State University become host of the American Kennel Club Diving Dogs Premier Cup, presented by Nutramax Laboratories and Cosequin, a brand of joint health supplements that is one of the company’s most well-known products.
Henderson said when he was approached by the AKC to sponsor the event, he realized hosting it on MSU’s campus was a natural fit.
“I look for things that marry different areas of the company,” he said. “Diving dogs are athletic dogs and their joint health is vital. What better place to host this event than on the campus of my alma mater? It was on national television. That helps increase visibility for MSU and Nutramax both.”
In another marriage of purpose, Nutramax Laboratories made possible the purchase, training and equipment outfitting of two K-9 officers for the MSU Police Department. That gift not only doubled the size of the university’s K-9 force but also provided a built-in opportunity for MSU students to gain hands-on experience caring for working dogs—a fundamentally different clinical challenge than caring for a family pet.
“An old yellow Lab who mainly sits on a couch is a very different dynamic in the exam room than a trained police dog,” Henderson explained. “It’s important for veterinary students to learn how to work with that difference, a different bedside manner.”
The American Kennel Club Diving Dogs Premier Cup made a splash at Mississippi State in 2025. Supported by Nutramax Laboratories and Cosequin, the nationally televised event brought elite canine athletes to campus and showcased the university to audiences nationwide.
Homemade
It has been more than 30 years since a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies helped steer a young man from Maryland to a veterinary program in Starkville, Mississippi. In the time since, that young man has built a company of nearly 900 people, brought life-changing human and animal health products to market, earned the respect of his industry, and returned to the place that first made him feel at home.
“Mississippi State was integral in helping me have the background to evaluate compounds and bring them to market,” Henderson said. “I want to do what I can to support the students and the school that helped me.”
From the operating room to the K-9 unit, from the pharmacy counter to the nationally televised diving dog competition, the fingerprints of Dr. Todd Henderson’s generosity are everywhere at Mississippi State, and they all speak of the appreciation he has for the university’s impact on his life.
Some places give you more than an education. They give you a home. And some people never stop finding ways to say “thank you.”
By Kevin Tate, Photos by University Photographers & Submitted